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Heraeus Kulzer Acts to Protect Dentists, Patients From Expired & Counterfeit Products

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Posted: June 15, 2011
Heraeus Kulzer Acts to Protect Dentists, Patients From Expired & Counterfeit Products

Agreement will protect dentists and patients from expired, spoiled, and counterfeit dental products


SOUTH BEND, INDIANA, June 15, 2011 — Your patient arrives at his appointed time for the first appointment in an extensive treatment plan. You’ve chosen an appropriately sized impression tray, and open a new container of Flexitime® VPS material to begin the impression process. But instead of the easily manipulated, malleable putty you’ve come to expect, you open the Flexitime® container to find an unfamiliar product with a strange odor. The package says Heraeus, and the expiration date is a year away… so what happened?

You soon learn that in an attempt to save money and improve the bottom line, the front office didn’t order the products from Heraeus, but rather ordered them online from an unknown overseas distributor offering deep discounts. These discounted materials were likely stored improperly by an unauthorized distributor, or perhaps the expiration dates were altered, resulting in expired or spoiled products reaching the offices of well-meaning U.S. dentists... Welcome to the grey market!

“If a product is not managed through the appropriate channels, it can potentially be sitting in a warehouse somewhere for years, and then sold to a dentist at an extremely deep discount,” explains Chris Holden, President of Heraeus Kulzer, LLC. “As a dentist, you really don’t know what you are getting or what you are placing in a patient’s mouth.”

Hardly a new issue, the grey market is a term that describes the distribution of a product through channels that, although legal, are not authorized or intended by the product’s original manufacturer. Often, grey market products are not properly shipped or stored, diminishing the efficacy of the product, or they may have altered expiration dates or worse, may be counterfeit. The use of these tainted products then compromises patient care and becomes a public health issue.

The Federal Drug Administration (FDA) regulates that all dental products used and placed in patients' mouths meet accepted standards – standards that include proper storage, shipping, and shelf life. However, with the recent economic global downturn, distributors and doctors have been forced to find ways to conserve/reduce costs. These attempts to “cut corners” have placed a brighter light on the grey market problem, have resulted in risky approaches to savings, and have created potential problems with serious repercussions on several fronts.

As such, Heraeus Kulzer, LLC, recently entered into an exclusive importation agreement with its parent company, Heraeus Kulzer, GmbH, through which it officially and legally acquired the sole rights as the exclusive importer of the Heraeus Kulzer-branded dental products into North America. By entering into this agreement, Heraeus Kulzer, LLC, is taking steps to protect the dentists and patients that have come to associate its brand with quality, reliability, and performance.

“Essentially what this means is that we now have the legal backing to combat unauthorized or grey market materials from entering the country through alternative routes,” says Holden. “Grey market materials pose a threat to manufacturers, dental professionals, and even patients because of the lack of scrutiny on the quality of certain products.”

“We understand the seriousness of the issue and the potential health threats tied to grey market products,” Holden continued. “Above all, we want to ensure the freshness and superior quality of every product we offer, and we will continue to push back against this growing problem.”

For more information on this agreement or on the Flexitime® impression material mentioned in this press release, please call (800) 431-1785 or visit www.heraeusdentalusa.com.


About Heraeus
Heraeus, the precious metals and technology group headquartered in Hanau, Germany, is a global, private company with over 155 years of tradition. Our businesses include dental products and biomaterials, precious metals, sensors, quartz glass, and specialty lighting sources. With product revenues approaching € 2.6 billion and precious metal trading revenues of € 13.6 billion, as well as more than 12,300 employees in more than 110 companies worldwide, Heraeus holds a leading position in its global markets.

About Heraeus Kulzer Dental: Transforming Lives
The Heraeus Kulzer Dental Division mission is to advance the oral health of patients around the globe. To that end, we continually apply our research, science and global resources to deliver unparalleled innovation and exceptional products to both dental practitioners and laboratories. While product safety and efficacy are always our main goals, we also aim to create value-based products that unlock new levels of productivity in dental practices and dental laboratories. Interrelated products including the Venus® brand of low stress composites, Venus White® Teeth Whitening Systems, Flexitime® Impressions Solutions, Gluma® Desensitizers, iBond® Bonding Solutions, PALA® Mondial® Teeth, and Modern Materials® Gypsum Products offer exceptional diagnosis, treatment, and restorative care.

Heraeus also collaborates with health care providers, researchers and academic institutions to support community wellbeing and overall oral health. To that end, Heraeus is a corporate supporter of the National Children's Oral Health Foundation, a nonprofit organization that provides access to care for thousands of underserved children, and the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.

Heraeus is also one of the leading dental alloy refiners in North America with over 50 years experience. For more information on Heraeus or its products, call (800) 431-1785 or visit www.heraeusdentalusa.com.

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